Who's up for some more Hakuoki?

Don't worry if you're not quite sure how to answer that question, as I'm not sure how to answer it myself.

Still, I'm intrigued. I mean, yet another Hakuoki game is coming to North America--who could've guessed that a few years ago?

The latest Hakuoki game that's being brought stateside, by the way, is the PS3-based Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi.

As always, Aksys Games is handling the localization. The Torrance, California-based company has yet to announce a release date for Stories of the Shinsengumi, although an Aksys representative recently revealed on neogaf.com that it will be given both a digital and retail release.

My only problem with this announcement: it seems that Stories of the Shinsengumi includes yet another retelling of the story that serves as the focus of the 3DS and PSP Hakuoki titles.

Will any of you be picking up one or both versions of Stories of the Shinsengumi, or have you had enough Hakuoki for the time being?

See also: 'A somewhat gay review of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP)'

Raise your hand if you picked up a copy of Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP) yesterday

Sadly, my own hand is not in the air at the moment.

I actually pre-ordered it after first becoming aware of it many moons ago, but I canceled that pre-order after surveying all of the games I've already bought yet failed to play this year.

Now, I'm not ruling out buying a copy later this year, or maybe early next, but for the moment I've decided to live my life Sweet Fuse-free.

In the meantime, maybe I should share a brief description of the game with those of you who've never heard of Sweet Fuse.

Basically, it's a visual novel aimed at women, as it stars a girl who, while navigating a bizarre amusement park filled with video game-themed attractions, must also juggle the relationships that are budding with a handful (six, to be exact) hunks.

Sweet Fuse, which was developed by Idea Factory and is being published in North America by Aksys Games, is noteworthy for a few other reasons, too--chief among them being that it features Keiji Inafune (aka the man who created Mega Man), who helped contribute to the game's development. It also features character designs from the hand of Kumiko Suekane, of Ace Attorney fame.

I don't suppose any of you picked up a copy of this intriguing PSP title? If so, why did you do so--and what do you think of it so far?

Buy: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side

I'm always up for some more Hakuoki

As if sensing that I don't have enough 3DS games on my lengthy "play sometime during 2013" list, the folks at Aksys Games announced yesterday that they're busy prepping Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi for a North American release.

Unfortunately, they've yet to say when this 3DS otome game (aka visual novel primarily aimed at a femal audience) will hit our shores. They've also yet to say if it'll receive a retail release, a digital one or both.

Should it wind up earning a boxed release, I'll likely buy a copy on or around its street date, as I really enjoyed Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom on my PSP.

Speaking of which, it seems Memories of the Shinsengumi will be an enhanced port of that 2012 title--with the 3DS iteration including 3D functionality, an image and movie gallery, some sort of "photo booth" and six additional stories.

For more information on this pending 3DS release, check out this piece of PR and the game's official website.

See also: 'A somewhat gay review of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP)' and 'My five favorite non-3DS games of 2012'

A somewhat gay review of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP)

Game: Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom

Genre: Otome/Visual Novel

Developer: Idea Factory

Publisher: Aksys Games

System: PSP

Release date: 2012

Please forgive me for being a bit crass, but I consider Aksys' Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom to be the gaming equivalent of "a grower, not a shower." What I mean is that, for me at least, it wasn't all that appealing at first. I think that's because I expected ... well, something other than what greeted me during the first hour or two of my playthrough of this PSP title.

You see, rather than being the kind of action-packed game most of us in the western world are used to playing, Hakuoki is a visual novel. As such, you can expect to spend a lot of time reading text and hitting your PSP's "X" button over and over again in order to advance the game's story--which follows a young woman, Chizuru Yukimura, as she and the Shinsengumi, a group of samurai who protect the citizens of Kyoto, search for Chizuru's missing father during Japan's Bakumatsu period (1853-1867).

Although you spend a lot of time reading while playing Hakuoki, that's not all you do. Sometimes, for instance, you're able to influence the story's direction a la the Choose Your Own Adventure books that many Americans devoured as kids. At the same time, you're able to influence Chizuru's future, as each decision brings her another step closer to (or takes her a step further away from) one of the game's eligible bachelors, romantically speaking.

Sadly, these moments of interactivity are all too rare. Not only that, but they're more than a bit confusing--especially if you're like me and you've never before played a visual novel or otome game--since it's often difficult to decipher how a particular decision is going to alter Chizuru's path. That said, the interactivity, even if it's a bit ham-fisted, is more than welcome amid Hakuoki's endlessly streaming lines of text.

The good news here is that those endlessly streaming lines of text are both well-written and, for the most part, quite engaging and compelling. Similarly compelling are the game's characters, each of whom are imbued with personality, and its graphics, despite the fact that they're static and more than a little repetitive. Although the word repetitive also could be used to describe Hakuoki's soundtrack, it never really becomes grating thanks to its relaxed nature.

Given all of the above, would I recommend Hakuoki to your average PSP owner? Yes, although with a few reservations. In my opinion, this title is most likely to appeal to those who are OK with playing as a girl, who don't mind games that include a dating component, who enjoy a good page-turner and who have at least a smidge of patience.

See also: Previous 'somewhat gay' reviews

I'm going to get with Isami Kondou if it's the last thing I do (or, I'm currently making my way through Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom)

Those of you who have been paying attention to the little "Now Playing" list that resides on the right-side on this blog should be aware that I recently acquired a review copy of Aksys Games' PSP-based otome title, Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. (And those of you who tend to ignore said list? Well, I guess you're in the loop now.)

I believe I've played it for about four or five hours, give or take an hour, which according to the proprietress of the Chic Pixel blog (aka apricotsushi, who you've likely come across if you've ever posted a comment here) means I should encounter one of the game's many endings sooner rather than later.

I don't want to give away too much in this post, as I'd rather save the important details for the "somewhat gay" review that will be published shortly, but I will say this: Hakuoki, while not exactly everything I had hoped for, is interesting and engaging enough that I'd recommend it to those who don't mind controlling a female protagonist and those who enjoy a good page-turner.

The second point above is especially important, as reading is pretty much all you do while "playing" Hakuoki. Every once in a while you're allowed to steer the story in one direction or another, a la those Choose Your Own Adventure books you plowed through as a kid (if you were anything like me), but other than that the main thing you'll be doing during this "visual novel" is hitting the X button on your PSP to advance the story.

As for the content of said story: It's a bit too detailed to go into here, but the long and short of it is that you have to search for the missing father of the aforementioned protagonist, Chizuru Yukimura, alongside the Shinsengumi, a tight-knit group of samurai who protect the citizens of Kyoto.

Although the bulk of your time is spent digging up clues as to the whereabouts of Chizuru's dad, a small bit of it (too small, in my opinion) is spent getting to know the studly members of the Shinsengumi better, if you catch my drift.

Personally, I only consider three of the many men in this game to be anything close to studly--which would be all well and good if it were possible to hook up with all of them. Instead, only one of them--the least appealing of the bunch, of course--is at all open to Chizuru's rather stilted advances. (Just in case anyone is curious as to which characters I'm talking about: Isami Kondou and Shinpachi Nagakura are my top two picks, while Saito Hajime comes in a somewhat-distant third.)

If any of what I've said here has piqued your interest in Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom, I'd highly recommend heading over to the game's official site, hakuoki.com, as well as this NeoGAF thread. (If you're really curious about it, you may want to check out this recent interview with Ben Batemen, a senior editor at Aksys Games, too.)

Buy: Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (Standard Edition) or Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (Limited Edition)

Calling all otome fans

The folks at Aksys Games recently posted a survey to their site in the hopes of gauging North American interest in otome games. (Take the survey here.)

For those of you who haven't the slightest clue as to what an otome game is, here's what Wikipedia has to say about the genre: "[They are] targeted towards a female market, where one of the main goals, besides the plot goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player character and one of several male characters."



Although otome games tend to be dating sims or visual novels, they're not exclusively so--as evidenced by Cave's rhythm-based effort from 2008, Princess Debut (above).

Bonus: Those who complete the abovementioned survey receive the following communiqué. "Thank you for taking this survey! You have helped make our world a better, happier place. Tomorrow's children shall sing your praises."